I love cooking like this—simple, feel-good meals. Take a basic protein, some water, a few key seasonings and make something (great) out of almost nothing. Here is a Taiwanese favorite from my wife’s family.

Normally this type of beef braised in soy sauce is used to make hong shao niu rou mian (beef noodle soup), but Teresa’s dad has been serving it over steamed white rice for years. I think it’s perfect that way… all of the concentrated beef and sauce flavor are kept intact, and the cooking broth tastes great over rice. The soup version is nothing to shake a stick at, though.

You won’t need much. Shank is a tough, unlovely cut of meat—shot through with fat and white sinew. It’s the perfect choice for this slow-cooking dish. White or clear rock sugar can be found at any Asian grocery, or you can substitute a few spoonfuls of regular white sugar, which is sweeter (though, I should warn, I have never tried that… I don’t mess with family recipes!) If you can score a nice piece of beef tendon, throw that in, too… it will add a layer of flavor and texture to the broth.

You’ll want to first bring the beef up to a rolling boil so that a thick layer of scum forms, which should be skimmed off and discarded.

After skimming and a couple of hours simmering in soy sauce, sugar and wine, you’ll have something really good.

The beef is incredibly tender—completely infused with the seasonings and broth. Fresh green onion is the perfect garnish.

Hong Shao Niu Rou (Chinese Braised Beef)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup vegetable oil

5 pieces whole star anise

5 thin slices washed, unpeeled ginger

3 lbs beef shank, cut into 1″ cubes

1/2 lb beef tendon (optional)

3/4 cup rice cooking wine

1/2 cup dark soy sauce

12-15 pieces white rock sugar cubes

1 green onion for garnish, sliced at 45 degrees

Directions:

Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot, on high heat, until almost smoking.

10 Responses to Hong Shao Niu Rou (Chinese Braised Beef)

Made this for my Taiwanese fiance and soon-to-be father in law, and got no complaints from the both of them (which is a miracle in and of itself)! So then I made it for my side of the family when I flew home for the holidays, and their lack of experience with East Asian cuisine made no difference–they all loved it too. Thanks for such a great, easy recipe! I did have to use flank steak though, since that’s all I had on hand. I can’t wait to try it with the intended cut of beef!

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This is one of my favourite dishes, although we tend to make it with pork more often than beef. I agree, I think Chinese cooking and Japanese cooking is all about using basic ingredients and somehow it always turn into something wonderful, like this dish!